


Hold Your Tongue

by justheretobreakthings



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Imprisonment, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Shock Collars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 09:53:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18313223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justheretobreakthings/pseuds/justheretobreakthings
Summary: It may be satisfying to get on the guards' nerves while locked up in a Galra prison cell, but there are always consequences.





	Hold Your Tongue

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](https://heartlesslywhumping.tumblr.com/post/182298524082/whump-prompt-62) prompt by heartlesslywhumping on tumblr.

“Hey ugly!” Lance shouted to the retreating back of the Galra guard passing by their cell. “I’ve been asking for room services for vargas now; when are you gonna get us some decent food?”

“Lance,” Keith hissed at him. “Shut up.”

“Come on, Keith, you know you could do with some food too,” Lance said. “Help us unwind a bit, right? And these assholes won’t even bring us our menus.”

“Menus?” Keith spat incredulously.

Lance rolled his eyes. Of course Keith was still just as oblivious to sarcasm as always. No, of  _course_  Lance didn’t actually think that these guards had room services menus for them. And of  _course_  he didn’t think that ‘unwinding’ was an actual option for them right now. After all, it was pretty much impossible to unwind and relax after having been captured on a mission, beaten, stripped of their armor and weapons, and shackled hand and foot in a Galra prison cell to await either rescue or… a less pleasant possibility.

But that didn’t mean Lance still wasn’t capable of trying to lighten the mood with a few jokes. It was all he could think of to do, really. And sure, Keith may have asked him to be quite so he could try to think of a plan, but the silence had been really starting to get to him; it always did, and it never took long. Filling the quiet kept his mind off of things, and slinging insults at the Galra moving past their cell was the only means of fighting them that was available to him at the moment.

So, ignoring Keith’s urges for him to quiet down seemed like the better and more fun option.

“Not to worry, buddy, these assholes may be incompetent, but that doesn’t mean we should have to miss out on our breakfasts in bed! And maybe bring some hot towels along while you’re at it, you Galra always keep your prison cells so damn chilly.”

“The loud one still running his mouth?” a new voice said. Lance could just catch a glimpse of another guard having joined the first at the end of the hall.

“Yeah,” the first guard grunted. “Little freak’s gotta be the most obnoxious creature I’ve ever had to guard.”

“Aw, I’m flattered!” Lance called. “Most Obnoxious, that’s a tough title to get! You mind if I make an acceptance speech? I’d like to thank all my teachers, who always knew I could do it - ”

“Lance,” Keith stage-whispered. “Seriously.”

A loud bang sounded as one of the guard beat their rifle against the bars of the cell. “Shut up, runt!” the guard growled.

“Or what, you’ll arrest me?” Lance asked.

“Don’t rile them up,” Keith sighed, leaning his head back into the cell wall. Frankly, Lance was a little disappointed in him. Keith had been thrashing and kicking up a storm when first they had been tossed in here. Even if he had exhausted himself out, he still should have been acting a little more supportive of petty rebellion; it seemed like the sort of thing that would be in the hothead’s wheelhouse.

“You oughta listen to your little friend there,” the guard grunted. “You don’t wanna wind up hurt.”

“What, am I bothering you that much?” Lance said, quirking a brow. “You guys really are the thin-skinned sort, aren’t you?”

“Lance…” Keith said warningly.

“I mean, I guess I shouldn’t be expecting much out of you, strength-wise. You  _did_ let three out of five paladins escape right under your noses, so - ”

The sound of metal against metal echoed through the cell as the guard wrenched the door open and stalked into the cell, their companion standing in the doorway to keep them covered. Within three strides the guard had descended upon Lance, pulling him roughly by the hair to face him. “I told you,” the guard snarled. “If you don’t learn to shut up, you’re gonna get hurt.”

And this time, it was more a matter of pride and not wanting to back down now that the ball was already rolling that made Lance open his mouth again. “Oh, yeah, I’m real scared of a guy who’s not even capable enough at his job to know when to bring his honored guests a goddamn omelet.”

He saw the fist coming from a mile away, but the force of it still caught him off guard when the punch drove into his abdomen. The force of it shoved his back into the wall, driving the air out of him in a single loud gasp and accompanied by both the sound and feeling of one of his ribs fracturing, if not breaking. On the other side of the cell he heard Keith yell out his name, but he was being yanked back to face toward the guard before he could give the other paladin any sign of reassurance.

“All right, loudmouth,” the guard said. “Got anything else to say?”

Lance, refusing to be intimidated, took a couple of long, deep breaths before wheezing out, “Is that all you got?”

This time the fist came for his face, and Lance’s attempt to duck out of the way was more or less futile, as he still wound up with his head knocked back, eyes watering, nose throbbing and with a narrow trail of blood from one nostril dripping over his lips.

“Hey!” Keith shouted, and the rattling of metal resounded against the cell walls as he yanked at the lengths of chain keeping him shackled in place. “Knock it off!”

“I will, once this one learns to keep his mouth shut.” The guard shook Lance by the hair. “You looking to get a muzzle slapped on that pretty little face of yours?”

“It would be a dream come true,” Lance choked out.

Another punch to the abdomen, and the rattling of Keith’s chains seemed to double in volume. “Stop it!” Keith yelled. “Stop hurting him - and Lance, for the love of quiznak,  _shut the fuck up!_ ”

The guard dropped Lance’s hair, leaving him sagging in his shackles, and turned to Keith. “You’re starting to do quite a bit of screaming yourself, aren’t you, runt?” The guard said, straightening up and moving toward him. “Might wanna take your own advice if you don’t wanna start getting on my nerves too.”

There was a thump and a grunt as the guard gave Keith a swift kick in the side. Lance grimaced as Keith curled into himself; those Galra boots were not light. “Hey!” he snapped. “Leave him alone!”

The guard ignored him, reeling back their foot and delivering another kick, and this time a tiny yelp slipped out of Keith. “Leave him alone!” Lance repeated, louder this time, his blood starting to boil the way it always did at the sight of a teammate being hurt. “Leave him alone, I’m the loudmouth, I’m the one you were mad at, remember?!”

The guard paused, leaving a few ticks of silence broken only by both paladins’ haggard breathing. Slowly, they turned back to face Lance. “I see,” they said, tone flat. “You don’t like it when I hurt your friend, do you?”

“Um…” Lance’s eyes darted between Keith and the guard, not sure what answer was expected of him here.

The guard turned to the other standing in the doorway. “Get the collars,” they said, and the other nodded briskly and vanished.

“The collars?” Lance asked. “What collars?”

The guard didn’t answer him. Lance tried to reach out to tap the guard for their attention, but his chain didn’t stretch far enough. So he asked again, “What are you talking about? What collars?”

“Wait,” the guard growled darkly.

Lance huffed out a breath, but he let the ticks pass before the other guard returned, two metal collars in their hand. They entered the cell fully this time, handing one of the collars off to the first guard before moving toward Keith. The first guard turned to Lance, leaning down to grab him by the hair again and bend his neck back to expose his throat. The next second, an icy metal was pressed around his neck as a collar was locked in place.

The guard stepped back, and across the cell, the other guard did the same, revealing another metal collar locked around Keith’s neck. For a moment, all were still, then Lance reached up a hand tug against the ring of metal. “So what even is - ?” he started.

He heard the crackle of electricity, and braced himself, eyes shutting tight, at the realization that this must be a shock collar, but the shock didn’t come. Instead, what came was just the sound of rattling chains and a muffled scream.

His eyes shot open, and he whipped his head around toward Keith. The other paladin was collapsed against the cell wall, panting heavily, eyes half-lidded. A knot formed in Lance’s stomach. “What just hap- ?”

That crackle again, and this time Lance had his eyes open to witness it. Keith’s muscles stiffened instantly, his back arching away from the wall, neck craning. His jaw tightened as his teeth clenched, biting back the scream that was climbing its way out of his throat as his whole body shook, and Lance could swear he saw a spark fly from the collar before Keith collapsed again, jaw still twitching.

“Keith?” Lance said softly, recoiling back in a grimace as the whole process repeated itself. Keith’s limbs were straining so hard against his shackles as he arched away that Lance feared his bones would break, and the scream working its way passed his clenched teeth was louder than the last. When he collapsed this time, his eyes were shut fully, and Lance could swear he could smell burning flesh.

Lance watched in horror as Keith took in shallow, shaky, raspy breaths, then he turned to the guard, a demand for an explanation on the tip of his tongue, but he was pretty sure he already knew what was going on.

And that was why he bit his tongue before any words could come out.

The guard grinned toothily. “Ah, you figured it out. Not as stupid as you look. If you can’t learn to shut up when we hurt  _you_ …”

Lance turned back to Keith, silently pleading for him to open his eyes, but he was pulled away when the guard took him by the chin and turned him to face them. “Now,” the guard said. “Are you going to be quiet from now on?”

Lance swallowed, his Adam’s apple pushing against the collar, and he nodded wordlessly.

“Good boy.” The guard rose, and he and his companion made their way out of the cell, slamming the cell door shut behind them.

Again Lance turned to face Keith, pulling as far as he could against the chains to get as close to him as possible. Keith was ghostly pale, and he had curled in on himself, one hand coming up to fumble weekly at the collar around his neck, eyes still closed. Lance restrained himself from calling out Keith’s name, and instead knocked his fist against the wall to get his attention. He had to do it three times before Keith was able to pry his red-rimmed eyes open and look at Lance.

 _You okay?_  Lance mouthed.

Keith blinked slowly before rasping out, “Yeah.” It seemed the collars were one-way, then. Keith talking didn’t hurt Lance, but Lance talking -

Well, it didn’t just hurt Keith. It flat-out tortured him.

 _I’m sorry,_  he mouthed.

Keith nodded - barely, just an inch down and then up, but it was a nod. “S'okay,” he whispered.

His eyes drifted shut again and Lance sat back with a sigh, pulling his knees up to his chest and tracing a finger along the edge of his new collar. No, it wasn’t okay, he thought.

He should have kept his mouth shut.


End file.
